Yes last night saw our first every quiz night and what a good laugh it was! Highlights included people screaming into a Dbz meter to see who was loudest…and our own bar member Dylan won! Whilst we also had a brilliant improv version of the New Zealand ‘Haka’ dance! Other questions included guessing what rude word contestants on Countdown came up with after being told the letters and drawing the Mona Lisa as best you could!

All in all it was a good fun night and a great way to celebrate 35 years of Castle Rock beer/pubs! So I am sure we will be doing it again in the near future!

Finally here is a question for all of you…..

In Sweden this week what did a local church do to try to get more young people to mass???

Answer : http://videos.stylelist.com/church-techno-rave-service-in-sweden-517249655

In the last year we have seen a host of awesome new bands (especially some of them young uns) evolve after gigs here at the Maze and last night (Monday 5th Sept) was another night of exciting new acts!

With some of Nottingham’s more established acts now starting to make waves nationally and a real host of potential great bands breaking through on nights such as our Glastonbudget Auditions and Notts in a Nutshell events, we really think Nottingham’s local band scene is in great shape!

Last night we saw 4 acts who brightened up our after-summer monday night blues!

First to take to the stage is PAIGE ELIZABETH GUY, a young singer-songwriter-guitarist, whose catchy acoustic style and regular gigging is really seeing her move fast up the ranks of Nottingham’s acoustic scene. I thought tonight was a real testament to how far Paige has come in the last 6 months. When I first saw her play earlier this summer she seemed a slightly shy, young girl who, even though she had a great voice and some good melodies, lacked a little confidence and experience to really stand out from the crowd. However tonight she shows why she has cemented her reputation in the city over the summer. A strong set of original numbers that not only show her strong vocal and ear for a good melody but also show a range of guitar influence mixing folk, funk, reggae and rock into her sound making Paige very easy to listen to and her on stage presence and banter show her to be a very mature and confident young lady, and it was not an easy crowd to tame but Paige did it brilliantly. Certainly a rising star in the acoustic music scene.

Second on were KICK THE RABBIT, they bought with them an army of crazy young fans who seemed to mostly be in fancy dress and were certainly ready to party (They had even started a mosh pit for Paige’s set…in her words ‘Your all mad’)!

The band are a 5 piece and have 2 vocalists (who swap on various songs) and then a base of guitar, bass and drums. As they take over the stage you wonder what is coming, with the bassist dressed as a giant rabbit (Donnie Darko style), guitarist in a sombrero hat, drummer in a weird balaclava, one singer dressed as Colonel Gadaffi and the other in a small dress! Style wise they are hard to pin down with elements of funk, rock, punk and prog jam-disco with the vocalists 2 styles contrasting on various songs. One singer reminds me of Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys with loud booming announcements whilst the other screams like a baby.

Though not the tightest band ever their stage show antics and ridiculous lyrics mean they are brilliantly entertaining and really good fun. Lyrics about going to a disco with Jesus and ‘Mars Bars are Great, but don’t eat Snickers or you will get AIDS’ just seem stupid, put together with the free Mars bars they throw at the crowd and free cherry pie (that their friend dressed as a drag Super Mario hands out), afterwards I feel amused and slightly abused…and like the last half hour was some sort of acid relapse. Brilliant.

Third to take the stage are KAGOULE, yet another band on the ‘Let’s go out everynight and party and not wake up with a 3 day hangover’ side of 21.

This band in oppose to Kick the Rabbit rely more on their music than their stage show to do the impressing. Raw, well played, well written and kick ass guitar rock.

The drummer and female bassist are really tight whilst the guitarist singer shows some awesome mix of guitar work and a typical british swagger with his lazy (in a good way) vocal.

A coming together of 90′s grunge and modern indie rock n roll meant I found this band generally quite exciting. Moments reminded me of such style defining bands as The Pixies, The Stokes, Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Joy Division and Smashing Pumpkins but still somehow having a fairly good sense of their own style and without sounding like a clone of any of the above.

At the end of their set they got an encore which when slightly wrong but with some more experience, an injection of confidence and time, this band could really be something awesome.

So far all 3 bands have been great in their own way and though all have been different I feel the youth have really shown what they can do tonight! Finally we end the night with a slightly older band but the quality doesn’t drop.

THE ELECTRIC RAIN are a rock band with a computer drummer! Once again a band who like to put some effort into their stage act and this only goes to increase the fun vibe of the show, the guitarist is wearing a cowboy hat, whilst the singer/guitarist has on a cool pair of 80′s plastic shades!

The laptop drums are always a worry for a band not playing disco or electro but this band have prepared their tracks pretty well and they don’t sound naff so that’s a good start! Hard hitting guitar riffage and catchy sing along vocal hooks also make the tick box and even though I missed the end of their set, I felt this band were another strong rocking band to come out the city!

All in all this night (as so many local band gigs in the Maze of late) has once again proven the healthy and strong state of music in our fair city….of course if you come out regularly you know this, if you don’t….get off your sofa, turn off X-factor and get down the Maze…something is happening….something good!!

Well Summer is officially over (did it even start???) and as people get back to ‘normality’, the students return, kids go back to school and everything generally seems less fun…we at the Maze are preparing to make this Autumn and Winter the most fun ever!

September is here and sees a whole host of awesome nights, already we had a great Friday night last weekend with a FREE ENTRY band show which went down a storm, Sarah Knight and the Blues Stones headlined (http://www.myspace.com/skandthebluestones) and were awesome as well as the always brilliant The Fade (http://www.facebook.com/TheFadeBand?sk=app_2405167945)….we were so happy with how this night went that we have decided that in 2012 we are gonna do many more FREE FRIDAYS with a host of the best local talent so keep your eyes open for your free chance to check out the huge and awesome music scene on your doorstep…for FREE in 2012!

Talking of top Nottingham bands we have the mighty ROYAL GALA (http://www.myspace.com/royalgalaband) returning to the Maze in a few weeks, Friday 16th Sept, with a brilliant lineup also including crazy live Ska Ravers CHINA SHOP BULL, Gypsy chaos from THE GREAT MALARKEY and Prog Ska, Jazz nonsense from SICK BOYS CLUB! Check the facebook event out : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253208078046046

KERBLAMMO returns to with a 3 room local band marathon of music on Saturday Sept 24th (Acts include OLD BASFORD and THE AUSTEN FRANCIS CONNECTION) which is always a amazing night put together by 2 of Nottingham’s top promoters, I’m Not From London and Audicious Face.

At the end of the month we have another amazing night of Ska with one of the best new Ska bands in the UK headlining, namely THE SKINTS! Also playing are Nottingham’s finest Ska/Reggae JIMMY THE SQUIRREL and STUCK IN 2ND plus from Liverpool RASTA4EYES! Here is the facebook event : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137160746373386

Finally check the gig listings as we have some great nights coming up in October, November and Decemeber including Capdown, Seven Little Sisters, Eureka Machines, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Lafaro, JT Nero, DIrty Revolution and loads more…plus the return of such great nights as Muzika, Smokescreen, Psycle, Monkey Nuts, Hotpoint, Stars in Their Eyes, and Notts Collective as well as new nights such as Perdition (New Metal/Rock Band & Clubnight)!

Also worth checking is the events in the last week of September as part of Nottingham Comedy week!

See ya soon!